TUCSON - Anna Ballis went to the Safeway a few blocks from her house on Saturday to buy beef broth for a roast she intended to put in her slow cooker.

She made it home about eight hours later, disheveled and bloodstained, having sat in a pool of a stranger's blood while applying pressure to a wound high on his leg.

Nearing the store, Ballis had seen U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords standing outside and thought she would say hello. But she stepped out of line because it was too long. Then, a man intervened, suggesting that she stop by when she finished grocery shopping.

That stranger was Ron Barber, Giffords' district director.

Seconds later, a gunman opened fire. Barber was shot twice, once in the cheek and once in his leg, and fell. The bullet to the leg had hit an artery. Ballis' simple act of applying pressure with her hands to the wound near his groin may shorten Barber's recovery time.

Although he is listed in serious condition, Barber continues to show improvement, and doctors said it was likely he would be moved today out of the intensive-care unit at University Medical Center.

Ballis, 54, is an office administrative manager and tenant-service coordinator for Grubb and Ellis Management Services Inc. in Tucson. She has no medical training beyond basic first-aid classes.

Her instinct to help Barber came naturally, she said.

He was feet from her and was bleeding profusely, "more than I had ever seen," Ballis said.

"I am no stranger to guns and gunfire, but I am a stranger to people crawling around injured," said Ballis, who is a recreational hunter and has two sons in the Marine Corps.

Ballis had missed the shower of bullets by leaning against a pillar and later ducking underneath a table, her head tucked underneath her arms.

She said she looked out a couple of times during the shooting and saw several victims fall.

"When the shooting did stop, I hesitated for just a few moments," Ballis said. "Then, I looked up and saw Ron right there. I went to his side."

"He was concerned about Congresswoman Giffords and I told him she being attended to. I tried to keep him calm."

Barber was talking less frequently when the paramedics arrived, Ballis said.

"He squeezed my hand and said, 'Thank you,' " she said. "At that moment, I knew he was going to live."

In the days after the shooting, Ballis said her sons, Morgan and Nicholas, have served as a support system for her.

Both have been deployed several times to Iraq and Afghanistan as infantry.

"They have encouraged me to talk about the experience, and I am seeking some therapy," Ballis said. "Instead of focusing on those who unfortunately did lose their lives, I'm focusing on those who are healing."